US President Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into what he described as an intelligence cover-up involving alleged Chinese interference in the 2020 election, claiming officials withheld crucial information from both the White House and Congress.
In a national address on election integrity, Trump alleged that newly released documents showed China obtained sensitive data linked to 220 million American voters and sought to influence US elections. He also accused members of the intelligence community of suppressing information about those activities.
Trump said the documents covered what he called five major areas of concern.
He said the data included names, addresses, telephone numbers, political preferences and other sensitive information.
Trump described the alleged breach as an “unprecedented election security nightmare”.
He claimed that, beginning during the 2020 election cycle, China carried out what the White House described as the largest compromise of election data in US history.
“The documents cover five major areas of concern. They show that over a period of years, starting during the 2020 election cycle, the People’s Republic of China carried out what is believed to be the largest compromise of election data in history, resulting in China’s illicit acquisition of 220 million US voter files,” Trump said.
‘Deep State’ accused of suppressing information
The President alleged that intelligence officials actively downplayed evidence of Chinese election interference.
“Compounding the travesty, the second set of documents we are releasing reveals that members of the Deep State in our intelligence agencies worked to actively suppress and downplay information about the extent of China’s sinister election meddling, covering it up from both the President and the American People,” Trump said.
He claimed US intelligence agencies learned in 2020 that voter information across 18 states had been bought, stolen or hacked by China.
“They did not disclose it to me as president, and to the best of our knowledge, they did not inform Congress,” Trump said.
He contrasted that alleged lack of disclosure with repeated assurances at the time that the election was secure.
Trump cites alleged influence campaign against him
Trump also cited CIA reporting that he said showed the Chinese Communist Party sought to influence the 2018 midterm elections and the 2020 presidential election.
According to his account, Beijing attempted to use domestic and foreign actors opposed to him.
He further alleged that China sought to influence American journalists and business leaders.
Trump said the documents claimed Beijing tried “to identify US journalists who had reported negatively on the US President, and pay them large sums of money to write more negative articles about him”.
FBI intelligence allegedly referred to illegal ballots
Trump also claimed FBI intelligence from 2020 referred to an alleged Chinese effort “to manufacture illegal ballots for Joe Biden”.
He accused unnamed officials of burying that information.
The source material does not provide independent verification of the allegation or details establishing whether such ballots were produced, distributed or used.
FBI, CIA and Justice Department asked to investigate
Trump said he had directed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Justice, the FBI and the CIA to investigate the alleged suppression of intelligence.
“Today, I am asking the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Department of Justice, the FBI, and the CIA to investigate how and why such crucial information was hidden, to fire those involved in the coverup, and to file criminal charges, if appropriate, against them,” he said.
The White House published material alongside the address under its “Election Integrity” initiative.
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